In Italy, a Family-Centered House With a Modern Attitude

The architects dubbed the rectangular house Liquidambar in homage to the autumn colors of the trees that surround the property.Credit
Filippo Simonetti

LAMBRUGO, ITALY — Just southeast of Lake Como sits a distinctly un-Italian house that is the scene of a very Italian story.

In a country where the family is still paramount, this house was designed by a father and son team of architects. The owners are the sister of the older architect and her husband, who live on the ground floor. Their 34-year-old son, Nicola, lives above them, in an apartment with a separate entrance.

The couple’s other son lives 2.4 kilometers, or 1.5 miles, away — in what was the family house before this one was completed three years ago.

The new house, with its perfectly symmetric rectangular design, was built with copious amounts of wood and cement, and fitted with many windows. It is about 40 kilometers north of Milan, in an area known as Brianza, but would look more at home about 1,700 kilometers north, on the edge of a Swedish forest.

“People stop to take pictures of the house because they’ve never seen anything like this before and they don’t know what to think of it,” said Adelio Colombo, who is retired from a fabric factory. He and his wife, Maria Gabriella, are the owners.

Franco Gerosa, Mrs. Colombo’s brother, did the original design, then turned the project over to his son, Andrea, to complete.

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The second floor apartment where the son of the owners lives. The living room has a steel staircase that spirals up to another, unfinished level that is destined to be partially used as a library.Credit
Filippo Simonetti

“I have a mental rigidity, and if symmetry is missing I’m not happy,” Mr. Gerosa said. “It is not every day as an architect that you are allowed to use your creativity, but with this house that was possible.”

Mr. Gerosa said he opted for cement as a building material because of its durability and minimal upkeep, although the choice also accentuates the sharp angles inside and outside the house. The effect is softened just a bit by the cement’s subtle pinkish color, the result of some tinkering by the local company that custom-made the cement.

The house has about 315 square meters, or 3,400 square feet, of living space. The Colombos planted the trees that surround it — cypresses, a fig, stubby Japanese elms and liquidambars, a member of the witch hazel family, whose foliage turns a vibrant reddish-brown in the autumn. The architects dubbed the house Casa Liquidambar in homage to the tree’s autumn colors.

The Colombos spent about €300,000, or $410,000, building the house, keeping the total cost down by having Mr. Colombo and a retired bricklayer they hired do some of the work. It was finished in September 2007, after two and a half years of work.

The main level, where the Colombos live, has a large room that serves as the living room, dining room and kitchen. There also is a master bedroom, a second small bedroom that is set up as a study and two bathrooms. A long hallway lined with white closets connects the two ends of the rectangular house, which is 14 meters, or 45 feet, long.

A large wooden staircase inside the main entry leads up to the apartment where the Colombos’ son lives. It lacks a kitchen, so, in keeping with the family theme, Nicola Colombo has all his meals downstairs. His apartment has a steel staircase that spirals up to another, unfinished level that is destined to be used in part as a library.

Enormous sliding doors made of wood open onto terraces, one of which is outfitted with a barbecue and table where the Colombos eat during the summer.

In the large area surrounding the house, Mr. Colombo grows many kinds of vegetables and herbs, including salad greens, cabbage and fennel. He also has an area dedicated to a type of corn that is particularly suited to making polenta, a local staple. He grows enough produce to distribute some to friends and family.

“This is my kingdom, I live here,” Mr. Colombo said as he made a sweeping motion toward the large vegetable garden and an oversized shed holding his tools, woodpile and a chicken coop. “I live here. Even in the winter I’m out here with my coat on, always building something.”